Achilia larvata ( Reitter, 1885 )

Giorgio Sabella, Sergey A. Kurbatov & Giulio Cuccodoro, 2017, A revision of the Chilean Brachyglutini - Part 2. Revision of Achilia Reitter, 1890: A. crassicornis, A. tumidifrons, A. bifossifrons, and A. lobifera species groups (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae), Revue suisse de Zoologie 124 (1), pp. 119-140 : 123-127

Achilia larvata ( Reitter, 1885)

Figs 14-16 , 22, 25, 32

Bryaxis larvata Reitter, 1885: 330 , pl. 2, fig. 15 (head and an- tenna).

Achilia larvata, Jeannel, 1962: 402 , 403 fig. 149 (aedeagus).

Achilia tumidifrons Jeannel, 1962: 402 figs 147 (habitus), 148 (aedeagus). ‒ Franz, 1996: 115 syn. nov.

Achilia globiceps Jeannel, 1962: 402 , 403 fig. 50 (aedeagus). ‒ Franz, 1996: 115 syn. nov.

Achilia paraglobiceps Franz, 1996: 115 fig. 63 (aedeagus) syn. nov.

Type material (75 ex.): CENTRAL CHILI: Región Los Lagos: Chiloé prov.: MHNS; 1 ♂ (holotype of Achilia tumidifrons n° 1626); Chepu; 03.X.1958; G. Kuschel. ‒ MNHN; 3 ♂ and 1 ♀ (paratypes of A. tumidifrons ); Chepu; 42° 03’S; 02.X.1958; G. Kuschel; forest. – MNHN; 1 ♀ (paratype of A. tumidifrons ); Chepu; 42° 03’S; 03.X.1958; G. Kuschel; forest. ‒ MNHN; 1 ♀ (paratype of A. tumidifrons ); Chepu; 42° 03’S; 04.X.1958; G. Kuschel; forest. – MNHN; 1 ♂ (paratype of A. tumidifrons ); Chepu; 42° 03’S; 07.X.1958; G. Kuschel; forest. – MNHN; 2 ♀ (paratypes of A. tumidifrons ); Chepu; 42° 03’S; 09.X.1958; G. Kuschel; forest. – MNHN; 2 ♂ and 11 ♀ (paratypes of A. tumidifrons ); Chepu; 42° 03’S; 15.X.1958; G. Kuschel; forest. – MNHN; 5 ♂ and 3 ♀ (paratypes of A. tumidifrons ); Chepu; 42° 03’S; 16.X.1958; G. Kuschel; Llanquihue prov.: MHNS; 1 ♂ (holotype of Achilia globiceps n° 1646); Frutillar; 20.IX.1954; G. Kuschel. – MNHN; 9 ♂ and 23 ♀ (paratypes of A.

globiceps ); Frutillar; 41° 08’S; 20.IX.1954; G. Kuschel. – Osorno prov.: NHMW; 1 ♂ (holotype of Achilia paraglobiceps ); Puyehue National Park, Osorno, 1 km above the forestal house; 23.IX.1965; H. Franz; litter sifting in laurel forest. – Región Los Ríos: Valdivia prov.: MNHN (coll. Raffray); 9 ♂ (lectotype and paralectotypes of Achilia larvata here designated); Chili – HNMB; 1 ♀ (paralectotype of Achilia larvata here designated); Valdivia.

Additional material (1284 ex.): See Appendix 1.

Description: Body 1.25-1.40 mm long, reddish with darker head and abdomen, antennae, palpi and legs yellow-reddish. Pubescence decumbent with dense and long setae, uniform on entire body. Head wider than long; frontal lobe flattened with rounded sides; surface smooth, shiny, with some minute punctures; vertexal sulcus impressed; vertexal foveae shallow and large; eyes protruding, longer than convex temples. Pronotum wider than long and as wide as head, with maximal width on anterior half; posterior portion of lateral outlines sinuate; disc strongly convex, smooth and shiny; median antebasal fovea smaller than lateral foveae; basal margin bordered with row of contiguous shallow impressions. Elytra together wider than long Figs 21-26. Head in dorsal (21-23) and lateral (24-26) views. (21, 24) A. crassicornis . (22, 25) A. larvata . (23, 26) A. bifossifrons . (24).

with protruding humeri; disc smooth, shiny, with some minute punctures; three basal foveae (lateral fovea consisting of two combined foveae); sutural stria entire; discal stria extending to about elytral midlength. Legs slender. Abdomen smooth, with some minute punctures; tergite I with basal striae slightly diverging, extending to about one-third of paratergal length, separated at base by about one-third of tergal width, with short and sparse setal brush between striae.

Male: Head as in Figs 22 & 25; width and convexity of occipital area variable, from conformation very similar to that in female to conspicuously swollen. Antennae with scape slightly longer than wide; pedicel distinctly longer than wide; antennomeres III-VIII small and slightly tranverse; antennomere IX strongly transverse; antennomere X strongly transverse, wider than IX, bearing conspicuous subapical tooth; antennomere XI elongate and as long as VII-X combined. Metasternum with narrow medial sulcus; ventral margin of mesotrochanters with small acute lateral spine; mesotibiae slightly enlarged on distal third and distinctly indented subapically. Abdominal tergites and ventrites unmodified. Aedeagus ( Figs 14-16 ) 0.28-0.30 mm long; dorsal plate subrectangular with dorsal strips reduced in comparison with those in the other species treated here; copulatory pieces consisting of pair of long medial sclerites curved at base and apically pointed, with pair of short lateral sclerites apically trifurcated. Parameres not expanded in with outer outline only slightly convex or fairly straigth at level of middle seta; tips broadly recurved internally. Female: Similar to male except: head narrower with occiput broadly convex; antennomere XI shorter, not longer than VIII-X combined; mesotrochanters and mesotibiae unmodified.

Collecting data: Collected from September to March, mainly in Nothofagus / Podocarpus mixed forests at elevations ranging from sea level up to 700 m. Most specimens came from sifted sample s of leaf and log litter, moss, branches, dead trunks, mushrooms, and other vegetable debris, but also were taken by flight intercept (window) and carrion traps.

Distribution: Achilia larvata is distributed in Central Chile from Chiloé northward to Ñuble provinces ( Fig. 32 ).

Comments: According to Jeannel (1962) A. tumidifrons differs from A. larvata by a larger antennal club with antennomere XI two times as wide and four times as long as X (instead of just a little wider and three times longer than X in A. larvata ), eyes shorter than temples (instead of longer than temples in A. larvata ), the frontal tuberosity of male punctate (while smooth in A. larvata ), the aedeagus with dorsal strips sinuate (while “not sinuate” in A. larvata ), and parameres with apical part narrow, sides parallel to truncate apex (instead of apical part broad, with outer outlines slightly convergent and apically recurved in A. larvata ). However, the aedeagal conformation of their types is very similar ( Figs 14-15 ), and after examination of extensive materials it turned out that all these differences (when really present) have been strongly exagerated by Jeannel and fall according to us within the intraspecific variation of this taxon. Therefore we conclude that A. tumidifrons Jeannel, 1962 must be considered as a junior synonym of A. larvata ( Reitter, 1885) (syn. nov.).

Jeannel (1962) distinguished A. globiceps from A. larvata by its very small antennomeres X and very large antennomeres XI, and above all by a different aedeagal morphology (notably copulatory pieces far less developed, slender and bifurcated, and parameres tapering to apex recurved internally). However, we failed to observe such differences between the aedeagus of the paratype of A. globiceps and that of the lectotype of A. larvata ( Figs 14 & 16 ), and here consider A. globiceps Jeannel, 1962 to be the junior synonym of A. larvata ( Reitter, 1885) (syn. nov.).

We have also examined all the specimens of Achilia from the Franz collection. Only three are labelled “Puyehue National Park, Osorno”, which is the locus typicus of Achilia paraglobiceps . Only one was already dissected and, although it doesn’t bear a holotype label, it is certainly the holotype of A. paraglobiceps , which is now labeled accordingly. This specimen is identical for external morphology and for the aedeagal characters to A. larvata , and we here consider A. paraglobiceps Franz, 1996 to be the junior synonym of A. larvata ( Reitter, 1885) (syn. nov.).

Reitter (1885) described Bryaxis larvata from the locality of Valdivia but did not indicate the number of specimens he had at hand. According to Jeannel (1962: 403) in MNHN there are 10 specimens of A. larvata , however in Raffray’s collection we found only 9 males with the simple locality label “Chili”, and those are treated as syntypes. In the HMNB there is a female of A. larvata with the locality label “Valdivia” (handwritten by Reitter) and this female is also treated as a syntype. The male lectotype is designated here from the series in MNHN and bears the labels: //Chili// [red label] Type// A. larvata det. Raffray// [red label] LECTOTYPE Achilia larvata des. G. Sabella//. The other syntypes mentioned above are designated as paralectotypes.

Figures

Fig. 32. Distribution map of Achilia larvata based on examined material.

Figs 14 - 20. Aedeagi (14 - 19) and the left paramere in lateral view (20) of Achilia. (14) A. tumidifrons, paratype from Chepu, Chiloé province. (15) A. larvata, lectotype from environs of Valdivia, Valdivia province. (16) A. globiceps, paratype from Frutillar, Llanquihue province. (17) A. bifossifrons, specimen from Salto Petrohué, Llanquihue province. (18) A. lobifera, specimen from Aguas Calientes, Osorno province. (19 - 20) A. antennalis, specimen from Princesa, Osorno province.